We've come so far..or have we?

It’s impossible to read Wollstonecraft’s feminist philosophy and not examine how far we have come in the past 200 years when one considers women’s rights. During this time women were viewed as weak, dependent, and unworthy of a proper education. I would even go as far as to say that they were perceived as “property” and just companions to their husbands. We all know that this isn’t the case in today’s society; women are more independent than ever and have as much right to an education as males do.

With that said, I felt as if Wollstonecraft’s argument about women not being independent was somewhat outdated. Don’t get me wrong, I have no doubt that this was an issue in the author’s lifetime and I respect her for bringing the problem to everyone’s attention. Luckily, in today’s world, women are very independent. Obviously they can vote, own property, work, and even raise children on their own.

Prior to reading Wollstonecraft’s piece I assumed her work would simply be about women’s struggles and the injustices they faced in the 18th century. Moreover, I was just expecting to read about outdated issues such as women being subservient to their husband and not allowed to vote or own property. However, some of Wollstonecraft’s arguments were surprisingly and extremely relevant to today’s time. She makes the statement “..men who, considering females rather as women than human creatures, have been more anxious to make them alluring mistresses than affectionate wives and rational mothers…” I feel as if this proposal is still an issue in today’s society. It appears as if women are solely judged on their looks and viewed as sexual objects more today than they have ever been. This is a dilemma because women who are viewed as sexual objects are valued for their bodies and not their minds which somehow makes them less of a human being. Ultimately, I didn’t expect such a relevant issue to be discussed in the reading.

Overall, it’s very true that women’s rights have come so far in the past 200 years. In fact, I feel lucky to live in this century where women do not have to face major inequalities like they did in Wollstonecraft’s time. But, I can’t help to feel as if some inequalities still exist. Just a few of these include women exclusively being viewed as sexual objects (as I mentioned earlier) and I recently discovered the statistic that women make seventy-five cents to every man’s dollar but that’s an argument for another day.